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Des Moines Tribune
Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa
September of 1980

Larry Giles, Mount Ayr elementary school principal,
stands in the room where Alberta Mickael taught.

A grim reminder of teacher

By Frank Santiago, Tribune Staff Writer

MOUNT AYR, Ia. - After a recent $5 theft at the Mount Ayr Community School, teacher Alberta MICKAEL used the moment to have a little fun.

She penned a note and slid it into the middle drawer of her desk, a place most thieves would look.

The note said, "There's no money in my room." And she added, "Thou shalt not steal."

It was typical "Bert" MICHAEL, a 68-year-old widow, teacher of the handicapped and a short, jovial woman whose personality disarmed almost all.

"When you think of her you think of a Coke - bubbling all the time," said Phil BURMEISTER, school superintendent.

Tuesday, the school teacher's hidden note in the desk was a grim and tragic irony.

MICHAEL, who lived alone for several years since the death of her husband, Lloyd, a carpenter, was found slain Monday in her neat, white two-bedroom home. She apparently had been robbed.

Preliminary findings of an autopsy indicated the woman had been beaten to death, said Gerald SHANAHAN, chief of Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. He quoted Dr. Emmanuel LASCINA, assistant Polk County medical examiner, who said the woman had massive head injuries and may have suffocated.

LASCINA performed the autopsy at Northwest Community Hospital in Des Moines.

SHANAHAN said Tuesday it wasn't immediately known what caused the injuries. He said no weapons were found.

Ringgold County Sheriff Elbert STRANGE said there are no suspects.

MICKAEL'S death jolted the southern Iowa community of 1,700 and shook the school.

Said a stunned Larry GILES, the principal, "She was a caring person, someone who really cared about people. Of all people, Alberta MICKAEL.

"She was very generous with her time and money. She would buy things for students who needed something. Money didn't mean all that much to her."

MICKAEL, a teacher in the county for half a century, chose to teach beyond retirement three years ago.

"We asked her to continue and [remainder of article missing]"

Tribune photographs

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, June of 2013

~ ~ ~ ~

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, September 25, 1980

Services for Alberta Mickael

Funeral services for Mrs. Alberta MICKAEL, 68, the first homicide victim in Ringgold County in over 46 years, are scheduled for this afternoon (Thursday) at 1:30 p.m. at the United Methodist church in Mount Ayr.

The body of Mrs MICKAEL, a special education teacher at the Mount Ayr Community elementary school, was found in her home at 201 S. Webster about 7:45 a.m. by two fellow elementary school teacher who had stopped to pick her up on their way to school.

Clad in a nightgown, her hands tied behind her back, she had been brutally beaten sometime early Monday morning. She suffered a number of fractured facial bones and a later autopsy showed she apparently died from suffication and loss of blood from the injuries.

According to Sheriff Elbert STRANGE, there appeared to have been no struggle. What had been used to beat Mrs. MICKAEL is not known and no weapon was found in the home, authorities said.

~ ~ ~ ~

At a special meeting, Mari McGEHEE was appointed by the school board to fill the unexpired term of former board president Billie SMITH. The death of special education teacher Alberta MICKAEL made it necessary to reshuffle teaching assignments. Title I reading teacher Kathi RINEHART was transferred to the special education vacancy and Ellen ELLIOTT hired to take Mrs. RINEHART'S place as the Title I remedial reading teacher. Mrs. ELLIOTT had applied for the position earlier this past year, so she was a first choice, according to Superintendent BURGMEISTER.